You could win a Saltspring Island weekend getaway. And meet Nick Bantock!
To celebrate the launch of our Spring 2009 issue—including a truly unique travel piece on Saltspring Island—we’re inviting readers to enter our Saltspring Getaway Contest. You could win a $200 gift card for accommodation on this charming Gulf Island, plus $50 in spending money, and a chance to meet artist/author Nick Bantock, creator of the international bestselling Griffin & Sabine books. Click here for complete contest details; open to adult residents of Canada, excluding Quebec.
When we invited Nick Bantock to create original artwork for our spring feature, “Nick Bantock’s Saltspring,” we could hardly wait for the results. The artist is known worldwide for his collages. The wonderful abstract images he created to depict Saltspring, his island home, are indicative of how the artist sees the world. For Bantock, it is more meaningful to convey the essence of a place than to provide a literal view.
“If you show someone a photograph of a tree next to a beach in front of the water on Saltspring,” he says, “you’re not giving them anything other than ‘This is how it is.’”
To represent Ganges, Saltspring’s main commercial centre, the artist dreamed up a new species: the “flizzard”—half lizard, half fish. “In summer, Ganges is very much a tourist place, but in winter, it’s more for the locals, so I created a creature that’s half and half, to represent its duality.”
Evocative, imaginative, and mysterious, the final artwork beautifully evokes the spirit of Saltspring Island. See Bantock’s delightful creations in our online photo gallery. To see more of Bantock’s artwork, visit his Saltspring studio/gallery, The Forgetting Room (250-537-0096), or browse his website: www.nickbantock.com